I had an idea for a game we can play with Automation cars, as well as a good way to get feedback on our creations. Here's how it works: Step 1: download and install the car posted above your post. Step 2: drive the car around a map and take screenshots. Step 3: compile the screenshots into a "road test" sort of story, as I will do. It can be serious, funny, sp00ky, anything. Step 4: post one of your Automation cars for the next road tester. Briefly describe its specs for the tester's reference. I'm the first one, so I'll start with a car of my own, the 1986 Soliad La Voiture 2.0GT. Spoiler: La Voiture: All-American or Un-American? by Jim March In an age of boring, mild-salsa sedans from Gavril and Bruckell, it's easy to consider the American auto industry dead, or at least dying. A ray of hope comes from the La Voiture, a spicy subcompact from Soliad - specifically, the speedy 2.0 GT model. It is marketed as "the American spirit on wheels" for understandable reasons. To call it American, though, would not be entirely correct. This hatchback is actually built under license in Minnesota from Topaz, a car maker known in their native France for slow, unreliable sedans and bland taxis. However, the La Voiture GT, in my test, was neither slow, unreliable, nor bland, even if build quality was a bit lacking. Its 2-liter four-cylinder engine produces 105 HP, plenty for a car this light, and the suspension supposedly allows it to pull just over 1 G in corners, putting it squarely in race-car territory! Just because it focuses on handling, though, doesn't mean it compromises on raw speed. The La Voiture GT manages 0-60 in just under eight seconds, which is faster than a Gavril Grand Marshal Sport. It tops out at around 100 MPH, which is plenty - the highest speed limit in America is 70 MPH, on I-80 in Nevada. Did I mention it can fly? No, not really. In fact, if it tried to fly, it would fall apart - shortly after this jump, the shift knob broke off in my hand! Despite the impressive exterior, the spartan interior rather reminds one of a slightly nicer Yugo. Not to mention the road and engine noise, which is fun but gets grating at times. Fortunately, at least floor mats come standard. The sound system was pretty nice too - who knew an 8-track player could actually work properly? I got a bit exuberant here, and nearly crashed! Luckily, the La Voiture GT has really bitey (in a good way) brakes. In fact, they may be a bit too strong for my liking. Hey, the exhaust pipes are in the center! From what I can gather, it's an in-joke among Topaz's engineers, who do this to all their designs. Why they find it funny, I am uncertain - I guess I may never understand the French. Looks neat though. Overall, I give the Soliad La Voiture GT 5 baguettes out of 10. It's a good effort, but a few minor issues (interior build quality, rough ride, painful brakes) hold it back from its full potential. The real reason I can only give it 5/10, though, is that Soliad tried to pass it off as American when really, they've just taken a French car and sold it to us. Alright, your turn. Here is another baguette, the 1985 Topaz 2000EC 2.0GS. It sports a 2.0-liter DOHC I4 - the same as in the La Voiture GT - producing a meager 105 HP. That's plenty for a city car, but is it enough for a midsize sport sedan? Topaz thinks so, but are they right? It also features a luxurious interior, all-wheel drive (a standard feature), and Topaz's signature hydropneumatic suspension. Will the interior hold together? Will the suspension crap itself again, like it did in Jim March's test in Community Screenshots? Could they make it less fugly? You tell me.
In the age of lookalike desins and boring generic style it would be refreshing to see something with some style...and that is exactly what the Topaz 2000EC gets right! With good design proportions,sleek narrow headlights,square foglights with yellow tint and even a vent on the hood this vehicle will definitely stand out from the competition. Now on to performance! Driving the Topaz is a joy; The steering is responsive and provides good feedback even if it is a little light and the suspension does a good job at keeping the vehicle well composed through cornering and on rough roads,the car corners almost flat with help of good roll bars and due to the AWD drivetrain you can go around corners at quite a good speed without much understeer. However if you push it too hard the front wheels will slip and the vehicle will start to understeer. This 4-door sports sedan is powered by a 2.0 Litre Dual overhead cam engine producing 105 horsepower,acceleration is decent with help of a 5-speed manual transmission making the vehicle have an average 0-100kmh time of only 8.9 seconds,which is better than it's competitors which usually have less horsepower and take over 11 seconds to get to 100. Getting the vehicle to a stop isn't the best experience however,the brakes show a little bit of fade and aren't too powerful,however with an advanced ABS system it stops rather smoothly. The interior on the car isn't the best as it has rather cheap feeling plastic around,the seats are quite supportive however don't have much adjustments,the car features a pretty good radio and air conditioning system,the rear seats fold down to provide more cargo space. Overall i'd give this car a 8.5 out of 10 stars,performance is average.Interior is mediocre,however the looks are quite good. Okay now here is a bit of a challenge,Here is the all-new PyongKong 400 series Midsize SUV which competes with Chinese manufacturers,There are rumors that PYK is from North Korea,however it is not 100 percent certain which part of Korea PYK is from,Other reporters say that this car pretty horrible and say this car compares more to a Kia from 2003 than a modern midsize SUV from 2008 which is the year that this vehicle is from,The 400 series comes with a 2.0L I4 making 107 horsepower mated to a 4-speed transmission,it has AWD and i think a limited slip differential.
Spoiler: Disclaimer None of the following should be taken as a jab at the North Korean people themselves. The state of human rights in North Korea is a real humanitarian crisis, and I fully respect those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, under the DPRK's regime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Coalition_to_Stop_Crimes_Against_Humanity_in_North_Korea In China, PyongKong (PYK) Motors is a rising star in the world of midsize SUVs. They recently unveiled their latest offering, the BX400, and thanks to a loophole in Trump's trade policies (introduced shortly after his summit with Kim Jong-un - probably a coincidence... probably), I was able to import one straight from the factory in Korea. How does the BX400 compare to better-known models like the Gavril Roamer, or to other Korean models like the Kia Sorento? First, let's get something out of the way: this is not a crossover, it is a full SUV. These are solid axles, described in the manual as "Rigid axle and incompliant difference of all-wheel drive system" - that, I assume, means it has a limited-slip differential somewhere. It uses "reinforced unibody construction" - from what I can tell, it is simply a ladder frame, contoured and welded to the body. Despite its all-wheel drive (which I suspect only worked some of the time during my test drive), it loves to understeer. This corner was taken at 20 MPH, and I could barely keep it in the right lane! My driving was certainly not helped by the right-hand drive layout, but as it is a Korean domestic model, I won't count that against it. Acceleration is a joke, taking over 12 seconds to reach 60 MPH. (PYK had the courtesy to send me a stopwatch to measure acceleration, but I discovered it was several seconds fast - could that have been deliberate? In the end, I just used my phone instead.) The steering wheel felt kind of sticky after a while, so I briefly stopped to look at it. When I looked at my palms, my worst fears were confirmed: the sweat from my hands was dissolving the plastic into a gooey mess! I went to turn on the air conditioning - maybe if I stopped sweating, the steering wheel would go back to normal - but when I turned on the fan, it made an awful grinding noise, then jammed. No dice. Back to testing. The puny 2.0-liter, 107-HP four cylinder engine was just barely enough to get up this hill. Also, my seat suddenly slid backwards as the truck ascended - as it turned out, the piece of metal that held it in place had snapped! I had to stop at the top of the hill - easier said than done, thanks to some weak-sauce brakes - and tape it back together. The suspension is okay. It feels floaty on the road, evoking Bruckell's luxury cars of the mid-70's. Off-road, however, it is surprisingly decent, negotiating large and small bumps with ease. If only it had more power... Here's the kicker, though: nobody is actually sure which Korea this thing came from! It was shipped from somewhere in the DMZ to eastern Russia, where it then made its way by boat to California, and finally by trailer to Utah. The manual contains such gems as "In matters of constructing automobiles, PYK shall do so in our own style," and "Let us enjoy a fully independent spirit in our travels together" - are these just marketing-speak, or are they Juche dog-whistles? I spotted this doohickey on the floor of the driver seat as I got out. I have no idea what it is - it must have fallen out of the steering column. It looks kind of improvised, hardly the quality of electronics you'd want in a car. The driver's door fell off when I exited the vehicle, smashing into at least three pieces on the ground. I give it 11/10, because if it is in fact North Korean, I don't exactly want Kim Jong-un's henchmen at my doorstep tomorrow. And here is my car: the 1995 Vega Mythos. It is a right proper British midsize luxury sedan, steeped in 43 years of tradition - some variant of this car has been in production since 1952. This is the last one, however, as Vega filed for bankruptcy just two years after its introduction. It features a 90-degree, flat-plane 4.0L V8 (still loosely based on the 1952 original!), active suspension, all-wheel drive, and a posh interior with advanced safety features and a wine cooler under the rear seats. The door handles are low so that if you are being shot at, you can enter the car while ducking behind it - a feature born from Cold War paranoia and still present in 1995. Speaking of doors, there are umbrella holders inside them (umbrellas included), which are useful in the rainy British Isles. Before you test it, I recommend you change the color to a slightly-glossy black, as in the pictures above - the stock color looked better in Automation.
